Roermond - packing again

It's been a while since we have had free fast internet and, unless we sit outside MacDonalds here in Roermond we have to use the expensive "stick". More more photos may have to wait until we get home. This is the end of the trail this time around as we fly back home in a week for the big family event we have coming up on July 17^th: Tess and Tony's wedding.

While in the charming city of Maastricht we caught up with an acquaintance from over 30 years ago, Marco who was a witness at our wedding in Ottawa. He is married 25 years to an American, Jill. Even though she is retiring Friday after 32 years with NATO, and they are dealing with sending a car and furniture to their condo in Naples, FL and the rest to Amsterdam once they find a three bedroom place with their 22 year old son who is finishing his Masters, they still found time to show us a very special Sunday. It started with an amazing brunch in the historic city of Aachen, Germany. You'll have to see the photos to believe the beautiful fresh food choices. Afterwards we walked around. The city was badly damaged in WWII and the older buildings have pieces missing from the stone façades. The Cathedral has four wings from different centuries, the oldest being the 800's. Those of you lucky enough to catch another of Rob's famous slide shows will see photos of the interior to see why we thought it to be so special.

All this was followed with a lovely drive through the beautiful hilly lush green countryside to see a place that moved me more than I ever thought it would, The American Cemetery. We saw thousands of marble crosses or Stars of David standing at each grave which held an American citizen killed in many battles fought in the surrounding region in WWII. May 5^th is Memorial Day here. We were in Sloten that day. Almost every home had a flag flying and there were services held at the churches, cemeteries and town squares, and 2 minutes silence at 8pm throughout the country. It's an event that is honored and not just treated as a day off work. At the American Cemetery on May 5^th there is also a memorial service and a Dutch school child stands at each grave to lay flowers. War continues to be such a waist of human lives. Will it never end?

We've had good times, good baked goods, exciting boating experiences and I am so glad to be here in The Netherlands. Currently we are on the back deck eating nuts, grapes, drinking wine, watching the boats go by, the hot air balloons above (which are so popular here) and waiting for the sun to set so we can go to bed. Yesterday was the longest day of the year. It starts getting light here at 4:10AM and finally gets dark about 11PM.